Ven. Jaseung, the controversial leader of the country's largest Buddhist order, Jogye, was reelected for a second term on Thursday after a close vote that confirmed a deepened rift between the incumbent and reformists.

The 59-year-old, who was first elected to a four-year-term in 2009, garnered 179 of the 311 votes among eligible Jogye leaders participating in the election held at the Memorial Hall for the History and Culture of Korean Buddhism in central Seoul. His closest rival and harsh critic Ven. Boseon got 129 votes.

Ven. Jaseung is the first chief monk to land a second term since the order reformed its election system in 1994 to limit the terms to two. He now faces the tall task of navigating Jogye's thousands of temples across the country, sharply divided after months of discontent. He has been involved in a slew of corruption and misconduct scandals in the past years that have tarnished the image of Buddhism and increased the calls for his exit.

Ven. Jaseung seemed to be cruising toward a second term until a gambling scandal erupted last year. After being expelled from the Jogye Order following a feud, Ven. Seongho released a video clip that showed eight monks from the Baekyang Temple playing poker in a hotel room with hundreds of millions of won at stake. The monks were also drinking and smoking heavily.

Ven. Seongho also went on a radio show and claimed that Ven. Jaseung and Ven. Myungjin, another well known monk, were rewarded by an influence peddler with drinks and sex in 2001. Ven. Myungjin admitted going to a ''room salon,'' or hostess bar, with Ven. Jaseung, but claimed no one was buying them sex.

Critics like Ven. Boseon and members of the Korean Association of Seon Center Spiritual Directors, which represents around 2,000 monks from 96 Jogye temples, had been spearheading the campaigns against Ven. Jaseung.

The leader of the Jogye doubles as one of the most influential figures in Korean society, having the authority to name head monks at the order's 2,500 temples and managing an annual budget of over 40 billion won (about $40 million).